This was my first stay at a Radisson Blu hotel, and we have since stayed at two more, in Chicago and Vienna. As per usual, location was key in my selection, and perhaps even more so in Alesund as we were only there for one night prior to taking the Hurtigruten, and the Radisson Blu was very close to the ferry dock. It seemed a good value, and our time was limited in Alesund; I believe that we arrived by bus around 4:00 PM, and left on the Hurtigruten to see Geiranger Fjord the next morning at about 9:00 AM.

We stayed in Room 207, which I believe was a standard room. The free wi-fi worked well, and the staff we encountered were extremely polite and pleasant. The room itself was clean, comfortable enough – not a lot of bells and whistles, but again, we were only there for the night. I didn’t take a photo of the room, but this photo from the hotel’s website is accurate:

Standard Room – Accurate Photo from Hotel Website

We hadn’t intended to eat at the hotel, but we were checking out the view from the lobby terrace and decided to sit down at Bulls Brygge, the restaurant. They had some sort of buffet special that we enjoyed, although it was a bit pricey. (Alas, such is Norway.) The breakfast buffet which was included with the accommodation, was also quite good and had a nice selection.

After checking out, we took the Hurtigruten to Geiranger for the day, and then were back in Alesund until approximately midnight, at which time we would board a different Hurtigruten for an overnight trip to Bergen. The staff at the Radisson Blu were very accommodating about helping us to store luggage, and invited us to use the free wi-fi in the lobby upon our return from Geiranger at about 6 PM. Due to the hotel’s location essentially next door to the dock, we could enjoy the evening in Alesund, come back and grab our bags just before midnight, and easily roll over to the ferry for our overnight trip.

In summary, the hotel is standard and clean, but the real benefits for us were the location and friendly staff.

Grade: B (*For our specific needs, due to location near dock; if you are staying in Alesund for a longer period, there may be options with more amenities)
Stayed: May 24-25, 2010
Current rate for standard double room with breakfast: Approximately $180 in USD(price quoted is per company website at the time of writing; rates vary, and this is less expensive that what we paid in 2010)